Chapter 633: Game of the Year!
The entire theme song of City Kingdom was performed live on stage. Not only that, but many audience members in the crowd were wearing red caps, clearly fans of *Super Mario Odyssey*, cheering spontaneously.
“I didn’t expect *Odyssey* to have so many fans abroad!” Qian Kun couldn’t help but marvel.
This genuinely surprised many domestic players. A lot of people felt that *Super Mario Odyssey* probably wouldn’t even be nominated for TGN’s Game of the Year.
On this point, it’s simply a difference in perception between domestic players, game enthusiasts, and professional game review media.
In Chen Mo’s previous life, strictly speaking by player numbers, Nintendo games were only a niche in China. But claiming Nintendo was a niche worldwide would be nonsense.
The reasons behind this are complex, including domestic policy factors (console bans), game characteristics, player tastes, consumption habits, game aesthetics, and many other aspects.
In this parallel world, although policy restrictions no longer exist, the gaming tastes of domestic and foreign players still differ significantly—and the gap is huge.
One very notable difference is that domestic players are goal-driven, while many European and American players are fun-driven.
In other words, most domestic players need a very clear goal when playing a game. The clearer the goal, the more they enjoy it. For MOBA games, the goal is to kill enemies, destroy towers, and win. For battle royale games, the goal is to search for resources, kill enemies, and survive to the end.
Any game with such clear goal orientation—provided the quality is decent, the gameplay is novel, and it’s an online game with some hype and buzz—can almost always achieve great success.
Many European and American players, however, are fun-driven. They focus more on enjoying the fun within the game rather than making speed-clearing the primary objective. Even in a highly goal-oriented game like *League of Legends*, many foreign players try quirky, unconventional playstyles, often appearing in special highlight reels.
Of course, this isn’t a blanket statement. There are fun-driven players in China and goal-driven players abroad. It’s just that there are more players abroad who can appreciate this kind of game fun.
When Chen Mo created *Super Mario Odyssey*, he also had this consideration in mind. He hoped the game would expand the player base as much as possible and gain corresponding influence overseas.
All the nominated games had been revealed. Next came the tense and exciting final award ceremony.
The host, holding the trophy, stepped onto the stage again.
“This year has been a great year for gaming, with outstanding games of all types emerging. But there can only be one winner for the Best Game award.”
“Now, allow me to reintroduce the nominees for this year’s Game of the Year.”
The host formally announced the list of games nominated for Game of the Year. Each time a name was read, the audience erupted in cheers.
When *Dark Souls* and *Super Mario Odyssey* were mentioned, the cheers from the audience were noticeably louder than for the other games!
Clearly, these two games had also achieved significant influence in Europe and America, rivaling even the classic IP sequels from major studios.
The host paused, waiting for the cheers and applause to subside, then said solemnly: “Now, I am very pleased to announce that the winner of this year’s Best Game, selected by 47 global media outlets and fans, is…”
“Thunder Game’s *Dark Souls*!!”
As soon as the host finished speaking, the venue erupted in thunderous applause and cheers!
“This is the first time Thunder Game has won the TGN Game of the Year award. Tonight, *Dark Souls* has also taken home both the ‘Best RPG Game’ and ‘Best Game of the Year’ awards!”
The camera panned to Chen Mo sitting in the audience. He stood up, elegantly hugged the designer beside him, then waved to the audience as he walked toward the stage.
The experience store was also in an uproar.
“Awesome! The store manager actually won Game of the Year!”
“Haha, are there other domestic designers watching TGN right now? The store manager has made it big overseas!”
“But look how calm the store manager is—so impressive! I bow to him!”
While cheers erupted both inside and outside the TV broadcast, the award ceremony continued.
Chen Mo and Denise walked onto the stage one after the other. At this moment, a smile was evident on Chen Mo’s face.
The host held the trophy with both hands and solemnly handed it to Chen Mo.
Sustained applause and cheers.
Chen Mo stepped up to the microphone, looked at the TGN Game of the Year trophy in his hand with satisfaction, and said:
“Thank you to all the TGN judges and to the players around the world who love Thunder Game’s games.”
“On behalf of the entire development team, I thank all the players for their long-standing support.”
“I also congratulate all the nominated games. We are all working toward the same goal: to help the gaming industry develop better and to allow players to enjoy the highest level of spiritual entertainment.”
“Once again, thank you for your support. Thunder Game will repay everyone with even better games. Thank you!”
Chen Mo spoke a sentence, and Denise translated it. The applause and cheers from the audience rose again and again.
In fact, with Chen Mo’s English level, saying these few simple sentences would have been no problem at all. But since he was representing a Chinese game company, he deliberately spoke in Chinese.
Finally, the venue erupted in thunderous applause and cheers that lasted for a long time. As Chen Mo walked off the stage, holding the trophy in one hand and waving to the audience with the other, TGN came to a perfect close!
Back at the experience store, Qian Kun and the others were already opening champagne to celebrate. Many players were also reveling, and the entire store was immersed in an extremely joyful atmosphere.
“Amazing! This time we’ve really held our heads high!”
“When is the store manager coming back?”
“Let’s celebrate first! *Dark Souls* is invincible! The store manager is invincible!”
…
The TGN award ceremony had ended, but discussions about the awards continued.
For domestic players, this award was hardly a surprise. However, many overseas players expressed confusion: why didn’t Game of the Year go to *Super Mario Odyssey*?
Although both games were from Chen Mo, they were completely different genres, and their core audiences were also distinct.
In fact, based on Chen Mo’s experience from his previous life, these two games were essentially a 50-50 split in the eyes of professional game review media, with *Odyssey* perhaps having a slight edge.
*Dark Souls III* fell short of *Odyssey* because it wasn’t as groundbreaking as *Dark Souls I*.
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